A typical home audiovisual equipment set up includes a number of components. For example, a radio receiver, a CD player, a pair of speakers, a television, a VCR, a tape deck, and the like. These components are connected to each other via a set of wires. One component is usually the central component of the home audiovisual system. This is usually the radio receiver, or the tuner. The tuner has a number of specific inputs for coupling the other components. The tuner has a corresponding number of control buttons or control switches which provide a limited degree of controllability and interoperability for the components. The control buttons and control switches are usually located on the front of the tuner. In many cases, some, or all, of these buttons and switches are duplicated on a hand held remote control unit. A user controls the home audiovisual system by manipulating the buttons and switches on the front of the tuner, or alternatively, manipulating buttons on the hand held remote control unit.
This conventional home audiovisual system paradigm has become quite popular. As consumer electronic devices become more capable and more complex, the demand for the latest and most capable devices has increased. As new devices emerge and become popular, the devices are purchased by consumers and “plugged” into their home audiovisual systems. Generally, the latest and most sophisticated of these devices are quite expensive (e.g., digital audio tape recorders, DVD players, digital camcorders, and the like). As a consumer purchases new devices, the new device is most often simply plugged into the system alongside the pre-existing, older devices (e.g., cassette tape deck, CD player, and the like). The new device is plugged into an open input on the back of the tuner, or some other device coupled to the tuner. The consumer (e.g., the user) controls the new device via the control buttons on the tuner, via the control buttons and control switches on the front of the new device itself, or via an entirely new, separate, respective remote control unit for the new device.
As the number of new consumer electronics devices for the home audiovisual system has grown, and as the sophistication and capabilities of these devices have increased, a number of problems with the conventional paradigm have emerged. One such problem is incompatibility between devices in the home audiovisual system. Consumer electronic devices from one manufacturer often couple to an audiovisual system in a different manner than similar devices from another manufacturer. For example, a tuner made by one manufacturer may not properly couple with a television made by another manufacturer. Within conventional home audiovisual systems, there is not a standardized way of coupling devices such that they interact predictably and reliably. This is especially true in the case of coupling devices from different manufacturers.
In addition, where one device is much newer than another device additional incompatibilities may exist. For example, a new device might incorporate hardware (e.g., specific inputs and outputs) which enables more sophisticated remote control functions. This hardware may be unusable with older devices within the system. Or, for example, older tuners may lack suitable inputs for some newer devices (e.g., mini-disc players, VCRs, etc.), or may lack enough inputs for all devices of the system.
Another problem is the lack of functional support for differing devices within an audiovisual system. For example, even though a television may support advanced sound formats (e.g., surround sound, stereo, etc.), if an older less capable tuner does not support such functionality, the benefits of the advanced sound formats can be lost.
Another problem is the lack of standardized methods of extending the functionality of the devices within the home audiovisual system. For example, conventional prior art devices are not designed to have their functionality extended after they are purchased by the end-user. Consequently, the functionality of less sophisticated devices is typically fixed by the manufacturer as the devices are fabricated. Often the only option available to the user to add new capability is the purchase of a new, more sophisticated device.
While the emergence of networking and interface technology (e.g., IEEE 1394 serial communication bus and the wide spread adoption of digital systems) offers prospects for correcting these problems, there is still no coherent, open, extensible architecture which can provide for intelligent, self configuring, easily extensible devices or AV systems. There are no standardized methods of extending the functionality of devices in a home audiovisual system. For example, while various solutions involving the use of IEEE 1394 as the basis of an AV system exist, none provides for the extensibility of the capabilities of the various devices coupled within a home AV system over the life times of the devices. There are no standardized, easily extensible methods for augmenting the capability and functionality of simpler devices as new, more sophisticated devices are added within a home AV system.